Bristol Living Rivers Project - Initiative - Get On Board

Introduction

The Floating Harbour is considered by many to be the jewel in Bristol's crown.

In recent years, the harbour has witnessed major redevelopment around its quaysides, contributing to the eight million tourists visiting Bristol each year.

In addition, the harbour provides shelter to over 500 boats, and sustains a habitat supporting a variety of wildlife.

However, as development increases and more people continue to use the harbour, so too do environmental pressures.

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Working together to keep our Floating Harbour clean

The Bristol Living Rivers Project has launched 'Get on Board', a multi partnership campaign to protect & improve the Floating Harbour environment. The campaign focuses on water quality through a variety of measures from stakeholders and harbour users.

Water quality has improved significantly in recent years and has been a contributing factor for recent regeneration around the harbour.

Water quality can be affected by many variables. The effects of heavy rainfall, particularly after a long dry spell and the subsequent surface run off can have an adverse effect on water quality. The local drainage infrastructure, pollution events in the harbour and upstream along the River Avon as well as discharges from boats moored in the harbour itself can also contribute to poor water quality.

The Get On Board campaign addresses these potential issues of water pollution through partnership working. Campaign partners are working together over the next few years and beyond to improve the water quality of the harbour.

By working together in this way, more sources of pollution can be minimised to protect & improve our historic Floating Harbour for futrure generations.

The work of the campaign partners is listed below. Alternatively, please click on the links at the top of this page to find out more about the different aspects of the Get On Board campaign.

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Floating Harbour Environment Advisory Group

The Floating Harbour Environment Advisory Group is a partnership of professional stakeholders working together to improve the Floating Harbour water environment.

Members of the group include representatives from Bristol City Council, the Environment Agency, Wessex Water, the Health Protection Agency & the Bristol Royal Infirmary.

The Get On Board campaign follows recommendations from the group, following work undertaken within the harbour over previous years.

As part of the campaign, the group is running educational projects around the harbourisde with local schools raising awareness and educating children about protecting & preserving our local environment and the importance of citizenship.

Please contact the Floating Harbour Environment Group through the Bristol Living Rivers Project.

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Bristol City Council

Teams from across the Council are supporting the campaign.

 

Bristol Harbour Authority

 

Bristol Harbour Authority is committed to providing new waste disposal facilities for boaters around the harbour.

A new waste disposal facility (pump out) was opened in August 2008 at the recently developed Canons Marsh inlet and is now available for use. Tokens are available from the Harbour Office, £8 each.

In addition, two more facilities are due to be installed by 2009 at  Temple Back & Redcliffe Wharf, which will enable Bristol's boater's to dispose of their waste in an environmentally acceptable way.

The Harbour Authority has also purchased a modern vessel to collect flotsam & jetsam. The new lightweight aluminium boat, the Waterwitch, has proved sucessful in collecting discarded litter and rubbish which frequently ends up in the harbour waters.

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Environmental Quality

The Environment and Sustainability Unit is home to the Bristol Living Rivers Project and is leading the campaign.

The team undertakes weekly water quality monitoring of the Floating Harbour in conjunction with the Harbour Authority.

Water quality results are posted at the Harbour Office, Baltic Wharf notice board and online.

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Pest Control Services

Pest Control Services are also supporting the campaign, through continued permanent baiting around the harbour to ensure that infestations of rats are kept low.

In addition, a new scheme to control the seagull population is also planned. The treatment of gull's eggs has proved successful across the country in reducing noise and mess made by seagulls.

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Environmental Enforcement

The Council's Enforcement Team have been working to improve the appearance of Bristol's streets around the harbourside.

Anyone caught dropping or leaving any litter or waste on the ground will be issued with an on the spot fine of £75.

The enforcement team are encouraging smokers to be responsible about how they dispose of their cigarette ends by stubbing them out and using:

• litter bins
• public ashtrays
• portable ashtrays.

The campaign urges all users of the Harbour to make use of litterbins for unwanted litter including food, waste and cigarette stubs, as this will reduce the attraction for rats, pigeons and seagulls.

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The Environment Agency

The Environment Agency has a long history of working in partnership with organisations to protect & improve the local environment.

By working together, the sharing of information and expertise enables efforts to be more effective and better targeted.

The Environment Agency will be undertaking visits around the Floating Harbour to sites identified as having caused pollution in the past or at high risk of doing so in the future, and where necessary will advise on pollution prevention measures.

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Wessex Water

Wessex Water has an ongoing programme of improvements. These include work on the sewerage system to alleviate flooding and to improve many storm overflows.

Part of the current work is a city-wide study to identify and address outstanding problem areas.

Additionally, a major city centre flood alleviation project is underway.

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Operation Streamclean

Operation Streamclean is an initiative between Bristol City Council, the Environment Agency and Wessex Water to identify and rectify illegal drainage discharges across the city.

Operation Streamclean is supporting the Get On Board campaign through continued work within the harbour area to identify any drainage misconnections from quayside buildings illegally discharging into harbour waters.

If you are concerned your drainage may be discharging illegally into harbour waters, please call 0117 922 4452 and ask for Operation Streamclean.

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Bristol Marina

Bristol Marina is supporting the campaign and caring for our harbour in practical ways.

Services currently available at the Marina include a chemical toilet disposal point and waste oil and battery disposal.

Bristol Marina has recently installed a new pump out facility located at the fuel berth for all boaters within the harbour. Tokens are available from the Marina office for £8.

Freshwater is also available to boaters.

In addition, Bristol Marina offers advice and guidance to boaters, both on and around the boats and the Marina.

For more information, please contact Bristol Marina directly.

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Bristol Boat Owners

The Floating Harbour is home to a thriving boating community who use the water as a place to live, a place to work or just simply a place to relax. Bristol also welcomes many visiting boats throughout the year.

The campaign is working with Bristol's boating community to raise awareness of best environmental practice in relation to responsible wastewater disposal from vessels moored within the harbour.

Bristol's boat owners are encouraged to review their wastewater disposal techniques to make sure they are environmentally acceptable. Where they are not, they are encouraged to work towards a solution by 2009.

Information for boaters on correct waste disposal is available to download online or can be collected from the Harbour Office, Bristol Marina or the CREATE Environment Centre.

An award scheme which recognises the boats in Bristol's harbour that dispose of wastewater in an environmentally acceptable way is due to be launched in 2008.

Boats moored in the harbour who currently dispose of their waste in an environmentally acceptable way and inline with Harbour Byelaws are invited to apply for the Water Award as part of the campaign. These boats will receive recognition of their committment to protecting the harbour environment by and will recieve certificates, stickers & be listed on the Council website.

More information on the Water Award Scheme will be available in 2008.

To support Bristol's boaters, the campaign also provides free guidance & advice to assist boat owners who want to make improvements to their current wastewater disposal techniques.

Advice request forms are available to download online or can be obtained at the Harbour Office or the CREATE Environment Centre.

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The Green Blue

The Green Blue, an exciting environmental initiative by the British Marine Federation & the Royal Yachting Association, has joined forces with the Get on Board campaign.

The Green Blue can provide a raft of helpful advice and information on how boat owners can limit their impact on the marine environment.

For more information, follow the link above to the Green Blue website where there is a host of useful information on environmental boating and about making the environment second nature.

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Rolls Royce "Green Machine"

An experimental concept project, 'The Green Machine' is being run by Rolls-Royce in conjunction with the Get On Board campaign.

The Green Machine is a small-scale protoype that uses reed beds to treat water pumped from the bottom of the harbour.

During the summer of 2007, it is hoped to demonstrate the benefits of an ecological engineering approach to water quality treatment in the harbour. So far the results have been encouraging.

More information is available on The Green Machine website.

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More Information

A campaign leaflet is available at the Harbour Office, Bristol Marina or the CREATE Environment Centre. Alternatively, this leaflet is also available to download.

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